She lost her parents to a drunk driver and now she’s a slave to the demon that killed them. To top it off she’s severely attracted to someone who has been convicted of the same kind of crime the guy killed her parents committed. This explains where her resentment of Billie comes from and why she’s so messed up in general.
Agreed. I was wondering why Ruth acted the way she did to Billie. I wanted to know more. And now we do. She seems so much more human now. I wonder where she and Billie go from here.
I think it’s from one of the more recent chapters (572) where they got into the history of the Tailed Beasts, and how the Sage essentially made them so the Ten-tails wouldn’t reform when the Sage died. It featured a scene where the various Beasts (in younger forms) were shown from Kyuubi’s memories of just after they were formed.
Seriously, you know how in Scrubs they’d always play that one little background tune when things got dramatic? And then in one episode J.D. revealed that he can hear it in his head?
Thank you. I went looking for it on Youtube to demonstrate, but all I found was the scene where Dr. Cox is on the couch drunk and depressed after killing three people, and J.D. gives him a speech about how much he respects him. And like an idiot I watched it.
Between this strip and that scene, I am now an emotional wreck.
(Maybe if I watch some Futurama I’ll feel better….Jurassic Bark? NOOOOO!)
Futurama can have the occasional miss episode, but I have mad respect (I can’t believe I just used that phrase) for a show that can have episodes that are hilarious and cry worthy. Jurassic Bark and Luck of the Fryish get me every time, and Jurassic Bark has some of my favorite funny Futurama quotes.
The one with Leela’s parents always gets me at the end too, when they play Baby Love Child by Pizzicato 5. Not in a cry way, just a feels way. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=69e_1189901829
From the newer seasons on Comedy Central, they had a Bender/Hermes episode (I had to look it up, it’s called Lethal Inspection) where they do a montage at the end that has about the same effect.
Like I said, not every episode’s a hit, but they can really get some good laughs and feels into one episode.
Oh good god. That scene – the moment when How To Save a Life is in full swing and the last guy dies. Just that second where Cox flips the crash cart across the room… I lose it every time – and I never lose it with shows or movies.
Ok, now I can officially say I feel identified with Ruth…
Sadly, my alcohol tolerance is too damn high and I can’t afford the required amount of booze!
As Homer Simpson learned once. (Well, they didn’t torment him for the rest of his life, exactly. And he did get to smoke pot legally as a result of what they did do. And…okay, this example is getting away from me fast.)
it is totally okay to fuck with crows. You just need to have your patented “crow fucking with” mask handy so they learn to hate the mask and not the man.
Ruth’s parents were killed by a drunk driver.
Ruth knew that Billie had a DUI. Indeed, that she’d had an accident while drunk.
So, that’s why Ruth’s been on Billie’s case since day one.
But Ruth didn’t cope with her parent’s death well, it would seem, and became an alcoholic, which she hates herself for.
I’ll be honest too, I don’t think I got this right.
I understand Ruth being in a very bad place after kissing a drunk driver, and after becoming a alcoholic.
What I don’t understand is her falling for a former drunk driver and becoming a alcoholic. I think this is confusing and, maybe, “confused” is the specific kind of “messy” Ruth is at this moment.
Maybe Ruth was punishing herself for becoming an alcoholic. She’s become the person that could get a DUI, so she must have feelings for someone who had a DUI.
Or maybe she just -likes- -Billie-. Seriously, guys, it doesn’t have to be some effed up “I have to like someone that’s like me even though I hate people like me”, it could just be that she finds Billie attractive and found her company more tolerable than expected once she got to know her better.
What I don’t get is who she was talking with earlier on the phone that left her depressed. She called him sir and I assumed that was her father since he was a prick who cheated on her mother with Billie’s mother in the original Walkyverse. Maybe a step father or foster parent who’s authoritative and emotionally distant. Drunk driving affected the original Ruth albeit in a fatal way too so it would seem she cannot escape this no matter what reality she inhabits.
Dorothy, you are WAY too happy about current events!
And before you ask, the suggestive leer is because, despite all the heavy emotions and near alcoholic poisoning we’ve had, we still ended up with two half-naked chicks sitting together on a bed after previously making out. To Joe the journey isn’t as important as the destination!
Ruth is very sad because her parents got killed in a car accident because of a drunk driver.
Billie is an alcoholic and got a DUI (for drunk driving).
Ruth is also now an alcoholic, so it makes her sad.
She’s also confused because she kissed an alcoholic that has a DUI.
What makes sense to me is this: The reason Ruth is ridiculously, uh, Ruthless is because she has anger issues from ‘transference’ or whatever psychologists call it; she would like to do rather inhuman things to the person who killed her parents so instead she acts out against those around her.
Then the last piece is:
Ruth hate’s alcoholics
==> love≈hate ==>
After hating on Billy for being alcoholic,
Ruth confused her hate of alcoholics for falling in love with Billy
See also Black Attraction
ex. Homestuck (Trolls, etc.), Phineas and Ferb (perry the platypus and Dr. doufenschmertz), spy vs. spy (old Mad comic/cartoon)
I’m still not quite understanding Billie’s emphasis on the kissing though. Isn’t the idea that Ruth is antagonistic towards Billie because her sort of behavior killed her parents?
Aha, makes sense. Wasn’t sure if the attraction was because of Billie being that kind of person or something really screwed up like that, but I suppose it’s unrelated.
Is it bad that I still want them to get together? Just…later. When they aren’t so damn raw. In like two years. DoA years, which means about a million real world years.
Billie’s empathy leads her to become an enabler…. Understandable. (But really, it should be clear at this point that the alcohol is not Ruth’s friend!)
Just because someone is bad for you doesn’t mean they’re not your friend. Sometimes being a friend is just being there, and alcohol has always been there for her.
actually thinking about Danny is much better in DOA its just he has alot more competition to get in the limelight and most off the competition is more interesting than him
this is all kinds of confusing, I now get why Ruth has been on Billie’s case all this time but why did that turn into romantic feelings for Billie? does Ruth want to protect Billie from her alcoholism and that why She kissed her? I’m kinda confused on the specifics
Well, can they at least slow it down? You know, check that they are not going to crash it into the dock. Or crush some innocent little tugboat that is just innocently sitting there because it has a deaf captain who is currently sleeping.
Asking shippers to stop shipping their ship is like asking a cat to stop licking it’s butthole. You can ask all you like, and even give very good, logical arguments as to why they should stop, but the shippers will just keep licking that butthole. They may even pee in your shoes just to show you how stupid it was for you ask them to stop.
To be fair, at least some of us are aware that this ship is horribly messed up and dysfunctional as it is now. It’s just that watching it crash and burn is kind of fascinating. Besides, it can always become viable once they work through their massive existing issues.
I know. Like, I understand how you can ship it in an “Oh my god, this is so dysfunctional, there is no way on Earth it can end well but I LOVE WATCHING IT GET EVEN MORE FUCKED UP” way, but in any other respect it just… confuses me.
I ship them so hard, but not in a romantic way so much as a group therapy way. Besides, whatever else happens, I know they made out in an alternate universe.
…You know how sometimes there will be a moment? A moment when everything you thought you knew is turned on its head, then you are hit with a mad sense of clarity?
I’ve read all the comments as of 1:07 AM Eastern, and I still don’t think I get it.
…self-destructive spiral that’s been a long time coming? Severely (clinically?) warped emotions? A situation presently stemming from (no matter how much the pride-happy little drunky denies it) empathy misinterpreted as a crush on the one person who might understand, and in fact does?
The way I see it, Ruth has been traumatized by the drunk driver killing her parents, leading to Ruth to become an alcoholic herself. She has now met Billie, being her R.A., and tormented her all semester long because she hates Billie’s similar life choices. Ruth is also a lesbian, or bi, and has developed some sort of crush on Billie.
The act of Ruth kissing Billie, and Billie’s reaction was a kind of personal defeat over her own internal conflicts, also crushing her own reserved hopes about people with D.U.I.’s in general.
Now Billie has come back to save Ruth from her binge drinking, worried about her health, and now has realized the irony of the situation. She gives the bottle back apropos.
Those of us who’ve been following Willis for a while get an extra level of enjoyment here. For us, it’s a glimpse of the Ruth of old, whom we thought we’d never see: the one who took paternal levels of responsibility for those around her. Even though she was not right enough in the head to sustain that (most notoriously when she ended up screwing the girl she used to babysit), she pulled herself together when she felt it was needed most. It’s moving that while this Ruth was willing to destroy herself, she absolutely cares about dragging Billie down with her.
I’m not entirely sure I understand Billie’s final gesture, but it seems like general screwed-uppiness mixed with compassion: “Wow, I realize now how much you’ve suffered. Guess you really do need that drink!” Billie: not ready for AA sponsorship.
Damn, Willis. It’s moments like these where you impress the shit out of me.
I’m hoping (Spoilerz!) that both of them having to confront this will lead to them supporting each other through the hard, hard road to sobriety.
Licky-style sexxehtimes or not.
Well, Ruth, now I understand why you can be an awful person sometimes. Doesn’t make it less of being-an-awful-person, but I understand it. Billie, I think now would be the time to get out of there and away before things get creepy all up in here. Nothing good can come of this.
Ruth hates alcoholics because one with a DUI kill her parents. So she was a total bongo to Billy (who she knew had a DUI) to make Billy hate her with the same passion Ruth hated her.
And then kisses… because Ruth wanted to believe that the world is a messed up as she is, and that it was “ok” to be like that.
Pretty much! Except I don’t think attraction is nearly as rational as all that. I strongly suspect these two would end up making out anyway in another universe, regardless…
Have you ever experienced emotional trauma or familial trauma? I’m on board with you and I think that’s because Ruth doesn’t seem to have it so freakin’ bad in my eyes that she can’t chin up and buck up.
:p Dude, I think you’re over-sensitive to the potential for one-upmanship. Geminia: perceives the situation as tame. My response: a curiosity as to why, specifically stemming from personal experience, and because my curiosity pertained to whether s/he had had a similar experience, a curiosity manifested as a specific question. Because the question as a stand-alone would be bizarre, it was followed by a sentence of exposition. I do think Ruth’s immature, and I think you need to lace up your big-boy boots as well and see that this isn’t a flex-athon to see who’s got the bigger biceps. 🙂
Haha, damn, I realized while I was re-reading the comments, trying to get where you’re getting your reaction from, that your empathy comment was probably directed more at Ruth than at Geminia.
Nah dude. I’ve built a small profession out of interrupting my Bachelor’s-earning-route with annual hospitalization and really, I’ve met folks. They’ve got their shit together, and I’ve got my shit together. Ruth doesn’t, which is her character, but it’s kinda childish and I can appreciate the characterization while having it paralyze my sympathy for her. I suppose therapy would be immensely helpful and she appears to be lacking it, but I’m not going to go there since discussion can branch out a lot from that point.
Wow, I was expecting some kind of reveal, but nothing I came up with was anywhere near that. So, with that origin story, is she Batman, except fighting drunk drivers instead of the Joker? But then she fell in love with her arch nemesis and is falling to the dark side (alcoholism).
Willis: Have you ever lost anyone in a DUI related car accident? You really nail the emotions solidly. This is amazing work… but sooooo hard to read sometimes.
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Oh dear.
You say oh dear, but your avatar says what you really mean.
HUZZoh dear.
ok that explains a lot
What? What? What does this strip explain? That Ruthless is 31 different flavours of loony?
She lost her parents to a drunk driver and now she’s a slave to the demon that killed them. To top it off she’s severely attracted to someone who has been convicted of the same kind of crime the guy killed her parents committed. This explains where her resentment of Billie comes from and why she’s so messed up in general.
That no matter which universe or timeline, something bad happens involving Ruth and drunk driving?
Yes it does, I was expecting an reveal, but not something like this. So so sad…
Agreed. I was wondering why Ruth acted the way she did to Billie. I wanted to know more. And now we do. She seems so much more human now. I wonder where she and Billie go from here.
Down. On each other.
Where’s your avatar from, with the kyuubi? For some reason, it looks… small and cute.
I think it’s from one of the more recent chapters (572) where they got into the history of the Tailed Beasts, and how the Sage essentially made them so the Ten-tails wouldn’t reform when the Sage died. It featured a scene where the various Beasts (in younger forms) were shown from Kyuubi’s memories of just after they were formed.
In fact lets break out the vodka we need something stronder than this piss water
The feels are so thick in this room you could cut them with a knife.
Just as long as there is not cutting involved.
…but I like my feels julienne style…
Poor feels. I feel for them. 🙁
Damn you, feels. I KEEL YOU.
I’m sad now.
Regarding the situation, I believe this would count as “its complicated”.
And now we know you won’t kill Ruth by a car accident in this storyline!
Not with her being responsible for it, at least.
On a very special episode of Dumbing of Age…
Seriously, you know how in Scrubs they’d always play that one little background tune when things got dramatic? And then in one episode J.D. revealed that he can hear it in his head?
I’m totally hearing that tune right now.
bada badabada ba baaaaaa
bada badabada ba baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
ding
Thank you. I went looking for it on Youtube to demonstrate, but all I found was the scene where Dr. Cox is on the couch drunk and depressed after killing three people, and J.D. gives him a speech about how much he respects him. And like an idiot I watched it.
Between this strip and that scene, I am now an emotional wreck.
(Maybe if I watch some Futurama I’ll feel better….Jurassic Bark? NOOOOO!)
Thanks, now I have “How to Save a Life” running through my head
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx2GNt5hgH8
Season 4, episode 1: “My Old Friend’s New Friend.”
(Season 4 is my favorite, I think.)
Futurama can have the occasional miss episode, but I have mad respect (I can’t believe I just used that phrase) for a show that can have episodes that are hilarious and cry worthy. Jurassic Bark and Luck of the Fryish get me every time, and Jurassic Bark has some of my favorite funny Futurama quotes.
It’s Dolomite, baby!
The one with Leela’s parents always gets me at the end too, when they play Baby Love Child by Pizzicato 5. Not in a cry way, just a feels way.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=69e_1189901829
From the newer seasons on Comedy Central, they had a Bender/Hermes episode (I had to look it up, it’s called Lethal Inspection) where they do a montage at the end that has about the same effect.
Like I said, not every episode’s a hit, but they can really get some good laughs and feels into one episode.
Damn You DOA Readers !
I’ve just watched Jurassic Bark because of you.
How am I supposed to deal with so much feels now ?
Don’t fight them, give into the feels and join the Feely Side!
I suggest watching Grave of the Fireflies.
That’ll make your current feelings feel insignificant. Problem fixed!
Oh good god. That scene – the moment when How To Save a Life is in full swing and the last guy dies. Just that second where Cox flips the crash cart across the room… I lose it every time – and I never lose it with shows or movies.
The funny thing about that tune is that it that it is never, even once, played seriously. I was keeping track and everything.
DISAGREE.
It was played seriously until the moment I linked above in season 4. Only after then was it only played for laughs.
…why did I see that tune as the underground theme from mario bros?
Ok, now I can officially say I feel identified with Ruth…
Sadly, my alcohol tolerance is too damn high and I can’t afford the required amount of booze!
Hot DAMN.
… Were her parents driving a truck, by any chance? Because that’d be just the horrible, demented twist this needs.
Heavy stuff 🙁
Booze: Bringing people together since the dawn of history.
Okay, so I take back my comment from yesterday. It really wasn’t all about Billie.
(Mmm, this humble pie doesn’t taste too bad, actually. I’d “eat crow” too, except that I’m a vegetarian.)
don’t ever fuck with crows … those fucker will remember you and torment you the rest of your life
As Homer Simpson learned once. (Well, they didn’t torment him for the rest of his life, exactly. And he did get to smoke pot legally as a result of what they did do. And…okay, this example is getting away from me fast.)
so… fuck with crows, get pot???
Yes. Just make sure you don’t leave out the “with.” Otherwise, you get jail time instead.
wait so now its fuck with crows,go to jail
No, it’s “Fuck crows, go to jail.” (Because ew.)
As opposed to “Fuck with crows, get pot.”
What a difference one little word makes.
but when you do either you fuck with a murder, and when you fuck with a murder you get murdered
As this study proves: http://news.discovery.com/animals/zoo-animals/angry-crows-memory-life-threatening-behavior-110628.htm
it is totally okay to fuck with crows. You just need to have your patented “crow fucking with” mask handy so they learn to hate the mask and not the man.
I’ll be honest I don’t get it.
Ruth’s parents were killed by a drunk driver.
Billie got in trouble for driving drunk.
Ruth kissed Billie.
Ruth’s parents were killed by a drunk driver.
Ruth knew that Billie had a DUI. Indeed, that she’d had an accident while drunk.
So, that’s why Ruth’s been on Billie’s case since day one.
But Ruth didn’t cope with her parent’s death well, it would seem, and became an alcoholic, which she hates herself for.
I’ll be honest too, I don’t think I got this right.
I understand Ruth being in a very bad place after kissing a drunk driver, and after becoming a alcoholic.
What I don’t understand is her falling for a former drunk driver and becoming a alcoholic. I think this is confusing and, maybe, “confused” is the specific kind of “messy” Ruth is at this moment.
I think I’ll need to read more …
Maybe Ruth was punishing herself for becoming an alcoholic. She’s become the person that could get a DUI, so she must have feelings for someone who had a DUI.
Or maybe she just -likes- -Billie-. Seriously, guys, it doesn’t have to be some effed up “I have to like someone that’s like me even though I hate people like me”, it could just be that she finds Billie attractive and found her company more tolerable than expected once she got to know her better.
yeah guys what he said. This ship already has plenty of issues we don’t need no negative nancy’s with their worst case scenarios
What I don’t get is who she was talking with earlier on the phone that left her depressed. She called him sir and I assumed that was her father since he was a prick who cheated on her mother with Billie’s mother in the original Walkyverse. Maybe a step father or foster parent who’s authoritative and emotionally distant. Drunk driving affected the original Ruth albeit in a fatal way too so it would seem she cannot escape this no matter what reality she inhabits.
Are we certain that *Ruth* wasn’t the drunk driver that killed her parents?
Um, yes. Yes we are.
Not just because that would be sick, but because she probably would have mentioned that first.
Danny, you’re arguing with yourself again.
Marcie, you talk?!?!
Dorothy, you know Marcy?
Dorothy, you are WAY too happy about current events!
And before you ask, the suggestive leer is because, despite all the heavy emotions and near alcoholic poisoning we’ve had, we still ended up with two half-naked chicks sitting together on a bed after previously making out. To Joe the journey isn’t as important as the destination!
Also, Ruth’s Canadian. Billie isn’t. I think.
I say it was Danny.
Probably a not-so-loving foster dad, I would guess.
Meant to be a reply to brasca1….
It could be a silent hill2 kind of thing. There’s really no one on the other end
also meant to be a reply to brasca1…
I think we can assume it was whoever became her legal guardian after her parents died.
Could be guardian, could be her advisor. I forget, is she older undergrad or a grad?
I don’t understand the implications of this strip. Could someone explain it to me, as you would a child?
Love and hate are the same thing for Ruth.
Thanks!
And I am not being sarcastic, I swear!
And I was not being sarcastic when I said I was not being sarcastic.
Waaaitaminnit. Were you being sarcastic when you said that you weren’t being sarcastic about not being sarcastic?
Sure, that wouldn’t be confusing at all.
Sarcasm!
What Kennerly said. As per your instructions:
Ruth is very sad because her parents got killed in a car accident because of a drunk driver.
Billie is an alcoholic and got a DUI (for drunk driving).
Ruth is also now an alcoholic, so it makes her sad.
She’s also confused because she kissed an alcoholic that has a DUI.
Make more sense?
What makes sense to me is this: The reason Ruth is ridiculously, uh, Ruthless is because she has anger issues from ‘transference’ or whatever psychologists call it; she would like to do rather inhuman things to the person who killed her parents so instead she acts out against those around her.
Still feel like I don’t understand though.
Then the last piece is:
Ruth hate’s alcoholics
==> love≈hate ==>
After hating on Billy for being alcoholic,
Ruth confused her hate of alcoholics for falling in love with Billy
See also Black Attraction
ex. Homestuck (Trolls, etc.), Phineas and Ferb (perry the platypus and Dr. doufenschmertz), spy vs. spy (old Mad comic/cartoon)
The most important implication by far is that Ruth is a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, as implied by the poster behind her.
Aww, Ruth…
I’m still not quite understanding Billie’s emphasis on the kissing though. Isn’t the idea that Ruth is antagonistic towards Billie because her sort of behavior killed her parents?
Yeah. So now Ruth hates herself for makin’ sweet lips with the exact kind of person who killed her parents.
Aha, makes sense. Wasn’t sure if the attraction was because of Billie being that kind of person or something really screwed up like that, but I suppose it’s unrelated.
A truck once kissed Billie’s parents?
Annnnnnd everything snaps into focus.
Is it bad that I still want them to get together? Just…later. When they aren’t so damn raw. In like two years. DoA years, which means about a million real world years.
We’ll all be dead but there love will live on. Naw I can’t wait that long.
Stay tuned for timeskip Ruth and Billie!
They Both Top
the funny things is this would get billie swimming in the hot dudes
Nice job!
Yotomoe you are the best.
*slow clap*
You just had to get a car accident in there somewhere, didn’t you Willis? You couldn’t leave well enough alone.
This whole situation makes a loooooooooooot more sense now. /slow clap
Billie’s empathy leads her to become an enabler…. Understandable. (But really, it should be clear at this point that the alcohol is not Ruth’s friend!)
Just because someone is bad for you doesn’t mean they’re not your friend. Sometimes being a friend is just being there, and alcohol has always been there for her.
Kidding? What you say may be true for people, but not for a drug. Maybe it’s always there, but it’s not there *for her,* I’d say.
Yeah I’m kiddin’.
Don’t mind me, I’m just in a GLASS CASE OF EMOTION.
That’s silly. Glass is made from heated sand, not emotions.
What the hell is going on? I am so confused o___o
It’s rather simple.
Ruth’s parents were killed by a drunk driver.
Billie was a (different) drunk driver.
Therefore, Ruth was antagonistic to Billie.
What if Ruth WAS that drunk driver…
You’d think she’d mention that part.
For further explanation, see comments further up.
Oh, Ruth. You make me want to hug you.
JESUS
The very definition of complicated…..
No Regrets? (that she kissed Billie?)
So wait.
In Roomies!, Ruth got herself killed by saving Danny from a drunk driver.
In DOA, her parents got killed by a drunk driver.
…
David Willis, you are a sick and twisted man.
And since think that’s kinda funny, so am I.
Danny *was* the drunk driver in Roomies!
Danny continues to ruin everything.
hey this was back in the day where danny was more or less the main character thus he was more tolerable
Was he more tolerable? Was he really? Are you sure?
actually thinking about Danny is much better in DOA its just he has alot more competition to get in the limelight and most off the competition is more interesting than him
so … yeah danny was never really that bad just everyone else got alot better
Holy shit this is amazing. The, literal-not-hipster-like-inaccurate, irony! Woah did -not- see this coming.
this is all kinds of confusing, I now get why Ruth has been on Billie’s case all this time but why did that turn into romantic feelings for Billie? does Ruth want to protect Billie from her alcoholism and that why She kissed her? I’m kinda confused on the specifics
Billie is just so hot that she turns everyone lesbian. Even if they hate her. This is the power of the milkshake Billie brings to the yard.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SlapSlapKiss OR http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BelligerentSexualTension
Or some variation of them.
It could be that Ruth is just gay and thinks Billie is attractive and simultaneously likes her personally while wanting to hate her for her DUI.
And this is why Billie puts the emphasis on the kiss. Because now she begins to understand Ruths actions more.
Oh ok. Maybe that makes sense.
And now everything makes sense. Thanks, comment section.
i don’t why your thanking us but i will gladly take the credit
PLEASE stop shipping them now. It’s just… awkward
.
you can’t stop this ship its already entering the harbor
Well, can they at least slow it down? You know, check that they are not going to crash it into the dock. Or crush some innocent little tugboat that is just innocently sitting there because it has a deaf captain who is currently sleeping.
Asking shippers to stop shipping their ship is like asking a cat to stop licking it’s butthole. You can ask all you like, and even give very good, logical arguments as to why they should stop, but the shippers will just keep licking that butthole. They may even pee in your shoes just to show you how stupid it was for you ask them to stop.
Worst metaphor…or BEST METAPHOR!?
That’s not a metaphor, Bekah’s just ranting about her cat.
It can be both.
It works as both a metaphor and as something that can actually be done in a relationship!
Nope, there’s never slowing a ship down. FULL SPEED AHEAD! LET’S SHOW THAT ICEBERG WHAT FOR!
that’s all up to the captain of the SS DAMNYOUWILLIS
To be fair, at least some of us are aware that this ship is horribly messed up and dysfunctional as it is now. It’s just that watching it crash and burn is kind of fascinating. Besides, it can always become viable once they work through their massive existing issues.
… Besides. At least it’s not Hannigram.
I don’t see the point in shipping relationships that aren’t screwed up.
… and with one simple comment, Willis shows us why we both fear and adore him.
And think about all the drama we get out of this pair just by watching them to try to get their relationship together.
Well played Willis…
This ship will hopefully be worth the shipping costs.
“At least it’s not Hannigram” is my answer to all ship-related dismay, from now until eternity.
I know. Like, I understand how you can ship it in an “Oh my god, this is so dysfunctional, there is no way on Earth it can end well but I LOVE WATCHING IT GET EVEN MORE FUCKED UP” way, but in any other respect it just… confuses me.
Wouldn’t help, since the ship’s pilot is no doubt sloshed to the gills.
I ship them so hard, but not in a romantic way so much as a group therapy way. Besides, whatever else happens, I know they made out in an alternate universe.
Although the Truth may vary this Ship will carry our bodies safe to shore.
unless we engage another ship in naval warfare and it has canons
I see what you did there… 😉
Awkward ships are the best ships!
Watching them sail around in circles is so entertaining.
Wow, I take some things back about this comic strip. This was legitimately well done. In the backhanded praise department.
Now I’m curious to see if Howard will show up in the back story.
Oh, wow, I feel bad. I pretty much completely forgot about Howard.
Well, it’s been 3 years but we finally got to the bottom of Ruth’s hate mystery. A weight has been lifted.
…You know how sometimes there will be a moment? A moment when everything you thought you knew is turned on its head, then you are hit with a mad sense of clarity?
That is exactly what happened when I read this.
That was the moment when I found out, indeed, it was not butter.
I’ve read all the comments as of 1:07 AM Eastern, and I still don’t think I get it.
…self-destructive spiral that’s been a long time coming? Severely (clinically?) warped emotions? A situation presently stemming from (no matter how much the pride-happy little drunky denies it) empathy misinterpreted as a crush on the one person who might understand, and in fact does?
The way I see it, Ruth has been traumatized by the drunk driver killing her parents, leading to Ruth to become an alcoholic herself. She has now met Billie, being her R.A., and tormented her all semester long because she hates Billie’s similar life choices. Ruth is also a lesbian, or bi, and has developed some sort of crush on Billie.
The act of Ruth kissing Billie, and Billie’s reaction was a kind of personal defeat over her own internal conflicts, also crushing her own reserved hopes about people with D.U.I.’s in general.
Now Billie has come back to save Ruth from her binge drinking, worried about her health, and now has realized the irony of the situation. She gives the bottle back apropos.
I think BD hits closest to unraveling this emotional mess. Seems to make sense. However, Billie handing her the bottle back is sort off the mark here.
Mmmmmm Billie’s curvy figure :9
Damn, Willis. Just…damn. Now this is how you subvert expectations; very, very well done.
Wait, is Ruth Amazigirl?
This panel is awesome….until you can see the Leafs poster… 😉 Go Bruins.
At first I was confused then I realized the situation and now I need a hug.
Oh jeeze. The self-hatred, man.
Those of us who’ve been following Willis for a while get an extra level of enjoyment here. For us, it’s a glimpse of the Ruth of old, whom we thought we’d never see: the one who took paternal levels of responsibility for those around her. Even though she was not right enough in the head to sustain that (most notoriously when she ended up screwing the girl she used to babysit), she pulled herself together when she felt it was needed most. It’s moving that while this Ruth was willing to destroy herself, she absolutely cares about dragging Billie down with her.
I’m not entirely sure I understand Billie’s final gesture, but it seems like general screwed-uppiness mixed with compassion: “Wow, I realize now how much you’ve suffered. Guess you really do need that drink!” Billie: not ready for AA sponsorship.
Damnit Billie, give her a hug! D:
Damn, Willis. It’s moments like these where you impress the shit out of me.
I’m hoping (Spoilerz!) that both of them having to confront this will lead to them supporting each other through the hard, hard road to sobriety.
Licky-style sexxehtimes or not.
Well, Ruth, now I understand why you can be an awful person sometimes. Doesn’t make it less of being-an-awful-person, but I understand it. Billie, I think now would be the time to get out of there and away before things get creepy all up in here. Nothing good can come of this.
Oh I get it now!
Ruth hates alcoholics because one with a DUI kill her parents. So she was a total bongo to Billy (who she knew had a DUI) to make Billy hate her with the same passion Ruth hated her.
And then kisses… because Ruth wanted to believe that the world is a messed up as she is, and that it was “ok” to be like that.
Pretty much! Except I don’t think attraction is nearly as rational as all that. I strongly suspect these two would end up making out anyway in another universe, regardless…
So, am I the only one who isn’t really sad at this? Maybe I’m desensitized or whatever, but this seems kinda tame really.
Have you ever experienced emotional trauma or familial trauma? I’m on board with you and I think that’s because Ruth doesn’t seem to have it so freakin’ bad in my eyes that she can’t chin up and buck up.
Ah yes, tragedy one-up. The game where no one wins… but you’re kind of terrible. Please train on the “empathy” skill.
:p Dude, I think you’re over-sensitive to the potential for one-upmanship. Geminia: perceives the situation as tame. My response: a curiosity as to why, specifically stemming from personal experience, and because my curiosity pertained to whether s/he had had a similar experience, a curiosity manifested as a specific question. Because the question as a stand-alone would be bizarre, it was followed by a sentence of exposition. I do think Ruth’s immature, and I think you need to lace up your big-boy boots as well and see that this isn’t a flex-athon to see who’s got the bigger biceps. 🙂
Haha, damn, I realized while I was re-reading the comments, trying to get where you’re getting your reaction from, that your empathy comment was probably directed more at Ruth than at Geminia.
Nah dude. I’ve built a small profession out of interrupting my Bachelor’s-earning-route with annual hospitalization and really, I’ve met folks. They’ve got their shit together, and I’ve got my shit together. Ruth doesn’t, which is her character, but it’s kinda childish and I can appreciate the characterization while having it paralyze my sympathy for her. I suppose therapy would be immensely helpful and she appears to be lacking it, but I’m not going to go there since discussion can branch out a lot from that point.
Hoo…welp, that’s a bag full o’ issues, and no mistake!
But still saying the best ending here is ‘and then they banged.’
Is it bad that I’m glad they’re bonding, even it seems to be for all the wrong reasons?
I’m just glad they’re having a conversation where nobody’s being punched or is punching.
(I vaguely recognize that avatar…hmm.)
Wow, I was expecting some kind of reveal, but nothing I came up with was anywhere near that. So, with that origin story, is she Batman, except fighting drunk drivers instead of the Joker? But then she fell in love with her arch nemesis and is falling to the dark side (alcoholism).
Willis: Have you ever lost anyone in a DUI related car accident? You really nail the emotions solidly. This is amazing work… but sooooo hard to read sometimes.
D’:
Damn… I almost need a drink too now
Hey, incidentally, Willis, I’ve always loved that last panel. Fantastically well-done proportions on their bodies. Thanks!